Sky EHF Handball Opener – Director’s Choice Sound

A mixture of synthesized sounds, layered samples and a classical four-part composition in D major creates the sonic backdrop of this neon-light themed animation for the on-air content of Sky.

There were two major challenges for coming up with the right sound design for this animation: on one hand the sound should create a sense of awareness for an upcoming sports event while on the other hand it should provoke a feeling of immersion, action and excitement.

As far as the sound effects layer is concerned, the beams of bright neon-light that ignite the dark set the stage which is reminiscent of a club scenery.

The handball, with its glowing blue and purple aura even looks like a mirror ball. All the letters look shiny and glossy as well.

At the end, when the whole scenery is revealed, the light beams also outline the form of a stadium which further underlines the concept of being at some sort of club or ballroom where there’s a party going on.

So the sound had to resemble light beams and energy without sounding too technical and metallic like the usual Sci-Fi sound you can imagine. I used Xfer’s Serum Wavetable Synthesizer to create the sound for the beams in the beginning and automated a lot of parameters to create the sense of spinning and movement towards the middle of the of room where they form a sphere. Lastly, I created some swooshes and swipes for the orbiting beams until the “ignite” the ball which is resembled by a bang before the music starts.

For the music I worked with a composer. The issue was to create a piece of meaningful music which suited the edits of the animation as well as emotional impact of the clip. So I sent him a clip and a few days later we met to optimize the timing and the arrangement to my likings. I was quite pleased with the final outcome. So were the good folks at dyrdee Media who commissioned and approved the sound design for this clip.